Thursday, June 30, 2016

Survey shows shift to the left - more spent on services - no more unfair cuts - people want job security

MORE people are in favour of increased government spending for those from less privileged backgrounds as the wealth gap widens even further, a landmark report revealed yesterday.

An overwhelming 82 per cent of people who consider themselves working class believe the differences between the haves and have-nots are increasing at a stark rate.

Sixty per cent of respondents to a survey by NatCen research centre say they are working class and 40 per cent describe themselves as middle class — the same percentages as in 1983.

Almost half of people in professional and managerial occupations say they are working class, the British Societal Attitudes report states.

However, more than two-thirds of workers said their bosses did not offer long-term job security although nearly everyone surveyed (92 per cent) said they wanted more certainty for the future.

Support for increasing taxation, and spending on infrastructure, is at its highest point in more than a decade since 2003, with 45 per cent of respondents in favour.

Seventy per cent are opposed to cutting benefits and 39 per cent think that the government should spend more the NHS and on welfare for the poor, particularly single parents.

NatCen research director Elizabeth Clery said: “We have witnessed a big rise in support for higher public spending; support is now back to a level not seen since before the financial crash.

“After seven years of austerity the public is clearly worried about the funding of the NHS and reckons that, for some groups at least, spending on benefits should be increased.

“However, not all cuts to welfare are unpopular. Almost half the public want cuts to unemployment benefits and very few want to see them increased.”

Even the controversial bedroom tax levied on social housing tenants is less popular than benefits for single parents among young adults who struggle with housing themselves, Ms Clery added.

This is an example of huge clashes of opinion over welfare within just one age group.

A majority (55 per cent) oppose cutting housing benefit for those with a “spare bedroom” but 48 per cent of 18-24s support the policy, compared with only 31 per cent of people aged over 75.

The report shows polarisation is continuing to develop among people from less privileged backgrounds, according to the People’s Assembly general secretary Sam Fairbairn.

He said: “The truth is, after years of Tory-led governments, the austerity ideology has been exposed for what it really is — a redistribution of wealth from the poorest into the pockets of the rich.

“That’s what this government’s legacy will be. People are fed up with being told they have to tighten their belts while we see the corporations avoiding tax.

“Then the bankers had received massive bonuses and CEOs like Philip Green are risking pensions and jobs belonging to other people for their own gain.

“The Tories are in their biggest crisis in years and public opinion is turning against them. We face a probable early election and a battle to put forward an alternative to austerity, racism and war.”

Emergency demonstrations organised by the People’s Assembly and Stand Up to Racism are being held on Saturday July 16 in London and across Britain.

Labour Activists Declare Support For Corbyn

Party members express anger with MPs

by Luke James and Peter Lazenby
Morning Star

LABOUR MPs behind the coup against Jeremy Corbyn are facing an angry backlash from grassroots activists who overwhelmingly support the party leader.

The majority of Labour’s MPs backed a vote of no confidence in Mr Corbyn on Tuesday in a bid to force him to resign from the post just nine months after he was elected with 60 per cent support.

But Mr Corbyn retains huge support outside the corridors of Westminster — including in the constituency of one of the favourites to stand against him in a new leadership election.

Members in Angela Eagle’s constituency said yesterday that her decision to cast a vote of no confidence against Mr Corbyn flew in the face of their views.

A letter to Ms Eagle from the Wallasey CLP secretary shows that, at a meeting on Friday, members mandated her to “reject the motion of no confidence in Jeremy Corbyn.

“The meeting was overwhelmingly behind Jeremy continuing as Labour leader,” it notes before asking her to “make a clear public statement of support for him.”

Mike Smith, a councillor at the meeting, said: “The room was very strongly behind Jeremy Corbyn, 40 people were there and the majority definitely behind him.”

“The infighting needs to so be stopped. We need to sort that as soon as possible. This is a great opportunity to attack the Tories and we’re missing it at the moment.”

In another blow to Ms Eagle, polling for Queen Mary University revealed yesterday found that 64 per cent of Labour members who have joined since the general election would vote for Mr Corbyn in a new leadership election.

Derbyshire Dales was among other CLPs which have expressed confidence in Mr Corbyn.

Local member Rosemary McKenzie said: “We are all supportive of Jeremy.

“I’m a headteacher and it is not all about one person showing leadership. Jeremy has the vision and he needs the team around him to help.”

The right-wing Labour First faction has distributed its own model motion for members to push for a vote of no confidence within their local parties.

A group of 77 Labour councillors, including some who voted for him, has also distributed a letter urging Mr Corbyn to “make way for the new leadership.”

But 240 councillors across Britain hit back and signed a letter to the Parliamentary Labour Party expressing their “dismay” at the attempt to “oust our democratically elected leader.”

Calderdale District Councillor Dave Young said that since Jeremy Corbyn was elected Labour leader 400 people had joined the Labour Party in his ward, tripling its membership.

The letter states: “Our enemy is not Jeremy Corbyn — it is the Tory Party and its plans to use the EU referendum as a fig leaf to inflict further cuts to the councils we represent.”

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The Pan-African News Wire is an international electronic press service designed to foster intelligent discussion on the affairs of African people throughout the continent and the world. The press agency was founded in January of 1998 and has published thousands of articles and dispatches in newspapers, magazines, journals, research reports, blogs and websites throughout the world.
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